This invention relates to a coin or token discharge apparatus. Specifically, the apparatus is of the type that receives paper money and returns coins or tokens.
Coin discharge or sorting machines offer a versatile form of changemaking in today's mechanized monetary exchange system. Commonly, many coin or token discharge or coin sorting machines use a rotating selector disc to retrieve coins or tokens and carry them individually to a discharge unit. The coins are normally fed to the selector disc by means of gravity to engage with notches located about the periphery of the selector disc. The notches are adapted to receive a single coin and carry the coin to the discharge chute. Examples of such devices utilizing forms of selector discs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,849,318 and 3,004,701.
Coin discharge machines which use a selector disc to carry individual coins to a discharge unit encounter numerous problems when the disc gets jammed by out-of-position coins and then fails to properly function. The jumble of coins or tokens which are present in the hopper above the selector disc can also exert fairly large and uneven forces against the rotating selector disc and actually force coins to engage the selector disc at inopportune locations thus causing the disc to jam and the machine to quit working. The Schwartz patent (U.S. Pat. No. 1,849,318) recognizes the varied problems of jamming and proposes to overcome this defect by constructing a selector disc and distributor which maintains absolute synchronism between the selector disc and the distributor for receiving the coins from the selector at all times. However, the type of apparatus such as Schwartz does not provide a solution to jamming of the selector disc prior to discharge of the coin or token. Schwartz has a shallow coin hopper which cannot carry a large load of coins or tokens. This type of coin hopper requires fairly constant surveillance and maintenance by the personnel in charge of maintaining the coin or token machinery in an operating condition. It has been found that the placement of larger capacity coin hoppers over the commonly available selecto-disc apparatuses results in frequent jamming of the selector disc due to the higher forces and dislocated coins being pressed against the selector disc by those forces.
The Antonoff reference, U.S. Pat. No. 3,004,701, addresses a solution for problems encountered when an oversized coin causes a jam in the coin rotor or selector disc. Antonoff provides an improved guide means for the coin machine wherein smaller diameter coins are prevented from inadvertently becoming displaced from the rotor during rotation while at the same time oversized coins are unable to be carried by the rotor without likelihood of a jam occurring. It has been noted however that such apparatuses fail to provide the problem-free operation demanded of coin and token discharge units having large coin hoppers containing large quantities of coins or tokens.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a coin or token discharge unit which can carry a large supply of coins or tokens in a supply reservoir.
A further object of this invention is to provide a coin or token discharge unit which provides a rotating selector disc for engaging individual coins and tokens from a large quantity contained in a coin reservoir or hopper and providing those coins or tokens to a discharge chute.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved anti-jamming apparatus to prevent the selector disc of a coin or token discharge unit from jamming when it attempts to rotate under the heavy and uneven forces of coins piled in the coin reservoir.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide an improved coin discharge chute which is not jammed by too many coins attempting to enter the chute.